Hildegard of Bingen

Lore & Background

Hildegard was born around 1098. Her parents were Mechtild of Merxheim-Nahet and Hildebert of Bermersheim, a family of the free lower nobility in the service of the Count Meginhard of Sponheim. Sickly from birth, Hildegard is traditionally considered their youngest and tenth child, although there are records of only seven older siblings. She was offered as an oblate to the Benedictine monastery at Disibodenberg.

Monastic life

The date of her enclosure is debated; her vita says she was eight when professed with Jutta, but Jutta's enclosure is known to have been in 1112, when Hildegard would have been 14. Some scholars speculate she was placed in Jutta's care at age eight and enclosed six years later. Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed together at Disibodenberg, forming the core of a growing community of women.

Jutta was also a visionary and attracted many followers. Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected magistra of the community. She founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. Hildegard wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal works, as well as letters, hymns, and antiphons.

She wrote poems and supervised miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. There are more surviving chants by Hildegard than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play.

Veneration

She is noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota. Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, regional calendars of the Catholic Church have listed her as a saint for centuries. On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of Hildegard to the entire Catholic Church in a process known as 'equivalent canonization'. On 7 October 2012, he named her a Doctor of the Church.

Monastic Leadership and the Fight for Autonomy

Hildegard's path to independence within the Church was neither smooth nor guaranteed. After Jutta's death in 1136, the nuns of Disibodenberg unanimously chose Hildegard as their magistra. Yet Abbot Kuno sought to keep her under his authority by appointing her as prioress rather than granting full autonomy.

Hildegard pushed back, requesting permission to relocate her community to Rupertsberg—a deliberate step toward a simpler, more self-sufficient existence, trading a well-established stone complex for a temporary dwelling. When Kuno refused, she bypassed him entirely, securing approval from Archbishop Henry I of Mainz. The standoff only broke when Hildegard fell gravely ill, paralyzed in bed, an affliction she attributed to divine displeasure at her disobedience.

Only then did Kuno concede, and in 1150, Hildegard and roughly twenty nuns established their own monastery at St. Rupertsberg, with Volmar serving as provost, confessor, and scribe. Five years later, she founded a second house at Eibingen. Even on her deathbed in 1179, she defied the clergy of Mainz, refusing to allow the exhumation of a man buried at Rupertsberg who had died after excommunication but, she insisted, had been reconciled to the Church.

A Polymath's Creative Output

Few figures from the medieval period left behind a body of work as varied as Hildegard's. She composed sacred monophonic chants, and remarkably, more of her melodies survive than those of any other composer from the entire Middle Ages. She was also one of the very few known composers of that era to have written both the text and the music herself.

Among her compositions, the Ordo Virtutum stands as an early example of liturgical drama and is arguably the oldest surviving morality play. Beyond music, she authored theological treatises, botanical and medicinal writings, letters, hymns, antiphons for liturgical use, and poetry. She also supervised the creation of miniature illuminations for the Rupertsberg manuscript of Scivias, her first major work.

Perhaps most astonishingly, she devised a constructed language called Lingua Ignota, a linguistic creation with no clear parallel in her time. Scholars have further credited her as a founder of scientific natural history in Germany, a testament to the breadth of her intellectual curiosity. In the modern era, her musical output has become the most recorded of any medieval composer, ensuring her creative voice continues to resonate across centuries.

Visions, Mentorship, and the Bond with Richardis

Hildegard's life was shaped from its earliest days by visions she experienced from a very young age. These experiences, combined with her sickly constitution, led her parents—Mechtild and Hildebert of the free lower nobility serving Count Meginhard of Sponheim—to offer her as an oblate to the Benedictine monastery at Disibodenberg. There she was enclosed alongside Jutta, daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, who was about six years her senior.

Jutta, herself a visionary who drew many visitors, taught Hildegard to read and write, though Hildegard acknowledged her own unlearned nature. Their daily life together involved reciting psalms, tending gardens, handiwork, and caring for the sick. After Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard carried forward their shared spiritual legacy.

Later, while completing Scivias, she formed a deep personal bond with fellow nun Richardis von Stade. When Richardis was elected abbess of a distant convent in 1151, Hildegard wrote to the Pope, church officials, and Richardis's own family, insisting their separation was contrary to God's will. When Richardis died a year later, Hildegard grieved deeply, assuring her brother that she held her friend in "divine love" and was confident in her salvation.

Legacy, Canonization, and Enduring Influence

Hildegard of Bingen, often called the "Sibyl of the Rhine," occupies a singular place in both medieval and modern history. Although the formal process of her canonization remains complicated, regional Catholic calendars had listed her as a saint for centuries before the twenty-first century. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI took two significant steps: on 10 May, he extended her liturgical cult to the entire Catholic Church through a process termed "equivalent canonization," and on 7 October, he declared her a Doctor of the Church, citing "her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching." Her influence extends well beyond the ecclesiastical sphere.

Scholars have regarded her as a foundational figure in the development of scientific natural history in Germany, recognizing the systematic nature of her botanical and medicinal observations. In the realm of music, she stands as one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony and, in modern times, the most recorded medieval composer. Her legacy thus spans theology, science, music, and language—a rare constellation of achievement that continues to draw scholars, musicians, and the faithful alike to her remarkable life and work.

Reader's Guide

Hildegard's works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in the liturgy, as well as the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; one of the largest bodies of letters (nearly 400) to survive from the Middle Ages; two volumes on natural medicine and cures; and an invented language called the Lingua Ignota. She is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. Her first theological text is Scivias ('Know the Ways'). She received papal approval to document her visions as revelations from the Holy Spirit at the synod in Trier between November 1147 and February 1148.

Did You Know?

• Hildegard said she first saw 'The Shade of the Living Light' at age three.
• She experienced visions through all five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
• At her death, her sisters said they saw two streams of light cross over the room where she was dying.
• Hildegard's hagiography, the Vita Sanctae Hildegardis, was compiled by the monk Theoderic of Echternach after her death.